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Honey Balsamic Roasted Fennel with Sweet Potato

I love the aniseed flavour of fennel, which comes with a lovely sweetness when the bulb is roasted. Amping it up with extra honey and balsamic ensures your roasted vegetables will be anything but boring! Just make sure you balance it out with savoury notes — in this case the feta and pumpkin seeds.

Honey Balsamic Roasted Fennel with Sweet Potato

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 35 mins

Total time: 45 mins

Serves: 4 (as a side)

Put the “sweet” in sweet potato with this honey roasted fennel. This is a one-tray recipe: after the preparation you just throw the lot in the oven!

Ingredients

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

2 sweet potatoes, halved lengthwise then sliced about 5mm thick

1 1/2 teaspoons fennel seeds

1 large bulb fennel

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

2 teaspoons honey

1 tablespoon pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

100g persian fetta

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Add the sweet potato, fennel seeds, 1 tablespoon of olive oil and a good pinch of salt and pepper to a bowl and toss to coat the potato.

Remove the fennel stalks then slice the bulb vertically, across the narrower dimension, into 5mm slices. They should hold together from the base.

Add the fennel slices, remaining 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil, balsamic vinger, honey and a pinch of salt to a bowl and toss to coat the fennel.

Spread the sweet potato and fennel on a lined baking tray and roast in the oven until the sweet potato is nearly tender, about 30 minutes.

Add the pepitas to the baking tray and roast for a further 5 minutes so the vegetables are done and the seeds are toasted.

Arrange the cooked sweet potato and fennel on a serving platter then scatter with the toasted pepitas and crumble fetta. Serve immediately.